Locomotive stoker



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LoCoMoTIvE STOKER Original Filed Nov. 6, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VENT OR A TTORNE Y Patented Apr. 17, 1934 p LoooMoTIvirs'roKea v I Mellen C. M. Hatch, Boston, M'a'ss., assignor to The Standard Stoker Company, a corporation of Delaware Incorporated,

Original application November 6, 1928, Serial o. 317,620. Divided and this application March 19, 1930, Serial No. 436,956

1 Claim. (o1. 11o-101i.

This application is a division of my pending application, Serial No. 317,620 led November 6, 1928, Patent No. 1,829,044, granted October 27, 1931, for improvements in locomotives. x

The invention relates to locomotives provided with mechanical stokers, its objects being to.

strengthen the locomotive, to provide improved means for the introduction of the fuel by power and for convenience in hand firing, and to secure other objects whichA will be pointed out in connection with the description. Y

A preferred embodiment of the invention is hereinafter described and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a detail, central, longitudinal, vertical section of the rear end of the locomotive and the forward end of the tender;

Fig. 2 is a detail View of the same parts, partly in plan and partly in plan section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detail view in perspective of a portion of the foundation ring of a locomotive boiler 25. and an integral arch formed thereon for enclosing a fuel admission opening.

The frames of the locomotive and tender are shown conventionally at 10 and 11. The backhead of the boiler of the locomotive is shown at l2; the firebox thereof at 13; the grates are indicated at 14; the cab floor or deck, at 15; and the tender deck at 16.

The walls of the boiler including its backhead which enclose the rebox, are, as usual, hollow n and are bounded at the bottom by a foundation or mud ring 17. As usual, the foundation ring may be formed of a heavy casting or forging, and in carrying out the present invention, it is provided with an integral upstanding arch 18 which .encloses the opening for the admission of fuel and to which the inner and outer sheets 19, 20 of the backhead may be secured by usual means, without deviating from the common form, eX- cept that they are suitably cut away to provide a single fuel admission opening, the lower por- 'tion of which is devoted to the mechanical Stoker and the upper portion, to hand firing. The upper portion of this opening is covered by a plate 21 having an aperture 22 in its upper portion for hand firing, which aperture will in practice be covered by an openable door (not shown) of any suitable form.

The space below the plate 21 and above the foundation ring is open for the accommodation `of the Stoker conduit and the admission of air for cooling the saine. The opening in the backhead may be increased in the vertical dimenslon, without carrying it too high for convenient hand I firing by offsetting the foundation ring downwardly across its bottom as indicated at 24, see v Figures 3 and 4. Y Y

I'llhe rear` portion of the fuel conduit may be of -any preferred form, being shown as comprising a trough 25 located below the oor of .the tender and receiving fuel from an aperture therein and being provided with a conveyor screw 26 and a suitable crushing device 23 cooperating therewith. Leading from the forward en d of the trough 25 is a tubular conduit comprising a rearward section 27 universally jointed to the 70 forward end of the trough 25 and the forward section 28 loosely telescopically tting upon the rearward section and provided at its forward end with one element of a ball joint 29. The forward portion of the conduit comprises two freely tel'e- 75 Scoping sections 30, 31, the former having at vits rearward end an element 32 of a ball joint which engages the element 29 and is seated upon and rigidly attached to a chair 33V carried by arid rigidly fixed to a frame member as 10 of the loc'o`- 8 motive frame. The section 31 extends through the lower portion of the aperture in the backhead which is enclosed by the arch 18 and Within the rebox takes the form of an upwardly opening elbow or nozzle 34 from which fuel is delivered 85 into the firebox. Y

This elbow is seated upon and rigidly secured to a chair 35 attached to the portion 24 of the well known manner. The elbow 34 is protected 100 n from the furnace heat by a grated skirt 40 extending from its upper end to the rebox grate. The portion of the fuel conduit which is carried by the locomotive is preferably D-shaped, being attened at the top, for the purpose of checking the tendency of the fuel to rotate and to jam at the elbow.

Fuel issuing from the elbow or nozzle 34 is scattered over the rebox grate by steam blasts issuing from a box 41 located immediately above 110 the opening of the elbow and at its rearward side, and supplied with steam through a plurality of pipes 42 leading from a steam chest 43 secured to the outer sheet of the backhead and which may be connected as by means of a pipe 44 directly with the steam dome of the locomotive.

Each of the pipes 42 is preferably provided with an individual controlling valve as indicated at 45 whereby the trimming of the fire may be facilitated by cutting off the pipes leading to the box 41 which scatter the fuel over portions of the grate which may have been overfed with fuel.

The described arrangement for the admission of fuel through a commonlopening in the backhead facilitates the attachment of the steam pipes associated with the fuel 'distributor without requiring them to be extended downwardly under the foundation ring in accordance with the present practice in connection with stokers of the scatter feed type.

One of the serious diiiiculties encountered in mechanically firing a locomotive through uits backhead is due to the expansion of the boiler under the influence of the furnace heat, this expansion moving the backhead backwardly a considerable distance, putting the stoker conduit un der severe strain and sometimes causing its fracture or distortion. This difficulty is overcome in the construction above describedby forming the portion of the conduit which is carried by the locomotive in two freely telescoping sections, each being rigidly and independently secured to the locomotive.

The invention is applicable both to new and old locomotives, the latter being easily remodeled for its incorporation. In old locomotives to which the invention is applied, it may sometimes be found desirable to put in an entirely new foundation ring or the arch 18 may be welded on to the "existing foundation ring.

While the construction shown and described is highlyl efiicient and desirable, the invention may be differently embodied within its scope as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A locomotive having a foundation frame and a 'rebox provided with a mudring, the backhead of said rebox having a fuel admission opening extending upwardly from the lower margin of said b'ckhead, a fuel delivery conduit comprising "freely telescoping sections, the rearward sectin being fixed to the locomotive frame and the forward section being fixed to the mudring of the flrebox and extending into the rebox through said opening, and an apertured plate extending across theupper portion of the named fuel admission opening and providing for hand firing.

MELLEN C. M. HATCH. 

